1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information display method, an information display device, and an information delivery and display system that provides information in the form of videos, still pictures, and text.
2) Description of the Related Art
Information delivery and display systems are known in which an information creating device creates information, also referred to as programs, such as a guide to a building and its interiors, various floors of a departmental store and the products available on them, real estate, etc., and provides the created programs to viewers by delivering the programs to information display devices via a network such as the Internet, local area network (LAN), etc. In the conventional information delivery and display system, when the programs are created using the information creating device, a producer has to screen the information to be provided to the viewers program by program, which requires a lot of time and effort.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-316859 discloses an advertisement creating system that includes a sales drawing database, a map database, a sales drawing creating terminal, and a server. In this system, upon receiving a request from the sales drawing creating terminal, the server outputs picture data, floor plan data, layout data of a sales drawing or advertising catalog, and related information. The sales drawing creating terminal creates a sales drawing or an advertising catalog using the data received from the server. The sales drawings and advertising catalogs are then stored in the sales drawing database and made available to user terminals when accessed.
In particular, the information (maps, picture data and floor plan data of the real estate, and related information) and the layout data necessary for creating the sales drawing or advertising catalog of the real estate are stored as databases. When the producer, who in this case is the program creator or creator of the sales drawing/advertising catalog, inputs from the sales drawing creating terminal (i.e., the information creating device) data pertaining to a registration number, name, value, traffic, location, premises, building, limitations, facilities, remarks, main copy, sub-copy, and transaction mode, the server stores the inputted information by correlating them with the registration number. The server retrieves from the map database the map that includes the location and displays the map on the sales drawing creating terminal. If the producer selects the map that is displayed, the selected map is stored by correlating it with the registration number. If the producer selects the layout data from the sales drawing creating device, input information based on the selected layout data is displayed. Using the sales drawing creating device, the producer retrieves the picture data and the floor plan data from the sales drawing database and creates the sales drawing or the advertisement catalog by pasting the picture data and the floor plan data in the spaces of the layout data. The server stores the sales drawing or the advertising catalog with the picture data and the floor plan data on it in the sales drawing database and makes available the sales drawing/advertising catalog stored in the sales drawing database from the user terminal (information display terminal).
In the conventional technology described above, the information necessary for the program (i.e., the sales drawing/advertisement catalog) is stored in the form of a database, and the program is created by retrieving the required information from the database. Consequently, programs can be created easily and cost-effectively. However, while creating a plurality of programs, the process becomes complex, involving inputting program-specific information not present in the database, selecting the layout data, and pasting the information retrieved from the database. In other words, it is costly in terms of effort and time to use the conventional technology for creating a plurality of programs.
Further, in the conventional technology, the program showcasing the finished product, such as the sales drawing or the advertisement catalog with the map, drawing data, and the floor plan data pasted on it, is delivered to the user terminal. As a result, the amount of data for the finished product becomes very large, which results in a delay in delivering the finished product. The amount of data becomes much larger when the program includes video data than when only still picture data is involved, resulting in an inordinate delay in delivering the finished product.